US20050216823A1 - Assigning textual ads based on article history - Google Patents

Abstract

A method of selecting textual advertisements for display on a web page based on user history. In the method, a user accessing a web site is identified. Keywords in articles displayed on web pages viewed by the user are identified and stored in a user profile. The advertisements displayed on a current user selected web page are based on keywords from the articles viewed by the user in the past that are stored in the user profile.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
• The present disclosure concerns a method and system for selecting textual advertisements for display on a web page and, more particularly, a method and system for selecting textual advertisements for display on a web page based on a history of articles viewed by a user.
BACKGROUND ART
• Operators of internet web pages generate revenue by selling advertising space on their web pages. Textual advertisements are advertisements that include text keywords and are assigned text keywords. Textual advertisements have been used to monetize search results and to monetize web pages including content, such as news articles. In prior advertising placement schemes, when a query is entered into a search box a web page is returned that includes both search results and advertising. The advertising in these prior schemes is contextually related to the query or the search results. This placement scheme has also been used with static web pages with advertisements being rendered based on the keywords on the page. One problem with these prior advertising techniques is that advertisements could be assigned to potentially embarrassing articles. For example, a search that returns a story about an airline crash could also return an advertisement for the airline involved in the crash.
• One existing automated news service clusters news stories from the web and algorithmically generates a news home page and section pages based on the metadata related to news articles posted on the internet. This service personalizes news articles shown to users based on keywords of news stories a user has selected in the past. The advertisements placed on the web pages generated by this service are selected based on the contents of the news story on the displayed web page.
SUMMARY
• The present disclosure concerns a method and system for selecting textual advertisements for display on a web page based on context of articles previously viewed by a user. In the method, a user accessing a web site is identified. Keywords in articles displayed on web pages viewed by the user are identified and stored in a user profile. The advertisements displayed on a current user selected web page are based on keywords from the articles viewed by the user in the past that are stored in the user profile.
• In one embodiment, keywords are assigned to advertisements and the advertisements displayed on the current user selected web page have assigned keywords that are also stored in the user profile or are related to keywords stored in the user profile.
• In one embodiment, weights are assigned to keywords stored in the user profile. These weights are used to select advertisements for display on the current user selected web page. These weights may be reduced as time elapses to reflect that ads having keywords from more recently viewed articles may tend to be more interesting to the user. Weights may also be assigned to advertisement keywords for selecting advertisements for display on the current user selected web page.
• In one embodiment, advertisements displayed on a current user selected web page are based on keywords from the articles viewed by the user in the past that are stored in the user profile and keywords from an article displayed on the current user selected web page.
• Use of a history of articles viewed by a user to select advertisements for display on a web page allows relevant advertisements to be selected for display without regard to user specific traits. For example, pertinent advertisements can be selected without knowing the user's age, sex, income, etc. In addition, use of keywords from articles previously viewed by a user to select advertisements allows advertisements to be selected that are in a different language than the article displayed on the current user selected web page.
• The system for selecting textual advertisements for display on a web page based on user history includes a user terminal, a web server in communication with the user terminal, and a user profile database in communication with the web server. The user terminal displays web pages to the user. The web server is programmed to identify a user accessing the web server and to identify keywords in articles displayed on the user terminal. The user profile database stores identified keywords from the articles displayed on the user terminal in a user profile. The web server displays advertisements on a current user selected web page based on keywords from articles viewed by the user in the past that are stored in the user profile.
• These and other objects, advantages, and features of an exemplary embodiment are described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
• FIG. 1 is a schematic depiction of a computer system used in practicing an exemplary embodiment of the disclosed method;
• FIG. 2 is a flow chart of a method of selecting textual advertisements for display on a web page based on user history;
• FIG. 3 is a diagram of a system for selecting textual advertisements for display on a web page based on user history; and
• FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of a web page that includes an article and textual ads.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
• Exemplary Operating Environment
• FIG. 1 and the following discussion are intended to provide a brief, general description of a suitable computing environment in which the invention may be implemented. Although not required, the invention will be described in the general context of computer-executable instructions, such as program modules, being executed by a personal computer. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc., that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Moreover, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the invention may be practiced with other computer system configurations, including hand-held devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, and the like. The invention may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.
• With reference toFIG. 1, an exemplary system for implementing the invention includes a general purpose computing device in the form of a conventionalpersonal computer20, including aprocessing unit21, asystem memory22, and asystem bus24 that couples various system components includingsystem memory22 to processingunit21.System bus23 may be any of several types of bus structures including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures.System memory22 includes read only memory (ROM)24 and random access memory (RAM)25. A basic input/output system (BIOS)26, containing the basic routines that help to transfer information between elements withinpersonal computer20, such as during start-up, is stored inROM24.Personal computer20 further includes ahard disk drive27 for reading from and writing to a hard disk, amagnetic disk drive28 for reading from or writing to a removablemagnetic disk29 and anoptical disk drive30 for reading from or writing to a removableoptical disk31 such as a CD ROM or other optical media.Hard disk drive27,magnetic disk drive28, andoptical disk drive30 are connected tosystem bus23 by a harddisk drive interface32, a magneticdisk drive interface33, and anoptical drive interface34, respectively. The drives and their associated computer-readable media provide nonvolatile storage of computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules and other data forpersonal computer20. Although the exemplary environment described herein employs ahard disk27, a removablemagnetic disk29 and a removableoptical disk31, it should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that other types of computer-readable media which can store data that is accessible by computer, such as random access memories (RAMs), read only memories (ROMs), and the like may also be used in the exemplary operating environment.
• A number of program modules may be stored on thehard disk27,magnetic disk29,optical disk31,ROM24 orRAM25, including anoperating system35, one ormore application programs36,other program modules37, andprogram data38. Adatabase system55 may also be stored on the hard disk,magnetic disk29,optical disk31,ROM24 orRAM25. A user may enter commands and information intopersonal computer20 through input devices such as akeyboard40 and pointingdevice42. Other input devices may include a microphone, joystick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner, or the like. These and other input devices are often connected toprocessing unit21 through aserial port interface46 that is coupled tosystem bus23, but may be connected by other interfaces, such as a parallel port, game port or a universal serial bus (USB). Amonitor47 or other type of display device is also connected tosystem bus23 via an interface, such as avideo adapter48. In addition to the monitor, personal computers typically include other peripheral output devices such as speakers and printers.
• Personal computer20 may operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more remote computers, such as aremote computer49.Remote computer49 may be another personal computer, a server, a router, a network PC, a peer device or other common network node, and typically includes many or all of the elements described above relative topersonal computer20, although only amemory storage device50 has been illustrated inFIG. 1. The logical connections depicted inFIG. 1 include local area network (LAN)51 and a widearea network (WAN)52. Such networking environments are commonplace in offices, enterprise-wide computer networks, intranets, and the Internet.
• When using a LAN networking environment,personal computer20 is connected tolocal network51 through a network interface oradapter53. When used in a WAN networking environment,personal computer20 typically includes amodem54 or other means for establishing communication overwide area network52, such as the Internet.Modem54, which may be internal or external, is connected tosystem bus23 viaserial port interface46. In a networked environment, program modules depicted relative topersonal computer20, or portions thereof, may be stored in remotememory storage device50. It will be appreciated that the network connections shown are exemplary and other means of establishing a communications link between the computers may be used.
• Method of Selecting Textual Advertisements
• Referring toFIGS. 2-4, the disclosed method selectstextual advertisements100 for display on a web page102 (FIG. 4) based on a user history or log of keywords from past articles selected by a user. In this application, the term “article” refers generally to content on a web page, including news stories and other news information.FIG. 2 is a flow chart that illustrates the method. A user accessing a provider website is identified104. Keywords106 (FIG. 4) in articles displayed onweb pages102 viewed by the user are identified107. Identified keywords from the articles viewed by the user are stored108 in auser profile110. In the exemplary embodiment, keywords are assigned112 to advertisements on a current user selected web page are displayed114 based on keywords from the articles viewed by the user in the past that are stored in theuser profile110. In the exemplary embodiment,advertisements100 displayed on the current user selectedweb page102 have assignedkeywords106 that are stored in theuser profile110 or are related to keywords that are stored in the user profile.
• Onesystem120 that can be used to practice the disclosed method of selecting textual advertisements is illustrated byFIG. 3. The illustratedsystem120 includes auser terminal122 for displaying web pages102 (FIG. 4), aweb server124, and auser profile database126 that stores user profiles for each user ID. Theweb server124 is in communication with the user terminal. The web server is programmed to identify a user accessing the web server and identifykeywords106 in articles displayed on theuser terminal122. Theuser profile database126 is in communication with theweb server124 for storing identifiedkeywords106 from the articles displayed on the user terminal in a user profile of an identified user. Theweb server126 displays advertisements on a current user selected web page based on keywords from articles viewed by the user in the past that are stored in the user profile. In the exemplary embodiment, anadvertisement server130 for stores keywords132 (FIG. 4) assigned to advertisements. The website and/or the advertisement server selects the advertisements for display on the current user selected web page that have assigned keywords that match keywords stored in the user profile or are related to keywords stored in the user profile.
• In the exemplary embodiment, theweb server124 obtains auser ID134 from the user terminal. If the user has not already been assigned a user ID, the web server assigns a user ID that is stored in the user terminal. In one embodiment, the user ID is a global unique ID or a cookie assigned to the user by the web server. In another embodiment, the user ID is obtained when a user signs in by entering a user name or e-mail address and a password. Theuser ID134 is provided by the web server to the user profile database. Theuser profile database126 returns a storeduser profile138 that corresponds to theuser ID134. This user profile is empty the first time the identified user accesses the web server. The profile is built up and modified each time the user accesses the web server. The storeduser profile138 includes keywords from articles or news stories that are selected by the user and provided by the web server to theuser terminal122. As the user selects articles or news stories for viewing on the user terminal,keywords106 from the selected articles or news stories are provided by theweb server124 to theuser profile database126. Thekeywords106 may be selected from the articles by using one of many existing algorithms. For example, an inverse document frequency (IDF) algorithm could be used to select keywords from the articles. The user profile database continuously updates theuser profile110 with thekeywords106 from the articles or news stories selected by the user. As a result, the log of keywords in theuser profile110 change as the user selects articles or news stories for viewing. Theweb server124 provideskeywords143 based on thekeywords106 from theuser profile110 to anadvertisement server130. Thekeywords143 may be selected directly from the keywords in the user profile or thekeywords143 may be a combination of keywords stored in the user profile and keywords stored on the currently selected web page.
• The advertisementserver stores advertisements100 having assignedkeywords132. In one embodiment, thead0vertisements100 that are provided by theadvertisement server130 to the web server for display on the current user selected web page have assigned keywords that match keywords from the user profile. In another embodiment, theadvertisements100 provided to the web server from theadvertisement server130 for displayed on a current user selected web page are selected based on keywords from the articles viewed by the user in the past that are stored in the user profile and keywords from an article displayed on the current user selected web page.
• In one embodiment, weights are assigned to keywords stored in the user profile that are used to select advertisements for display on the current user selected web page. In the exemplary embodiment, these weights are reduced as time elapses. As a result, keywords stored in the user profiles gradually become less of a factor in selecting the advertisement for the currently selected web page as time elapses. In one embodiment, keywords from articles are removed from the user profile after a predetermined period of time elapses.
• In one embodiment, weights are also given to keywords assigned to the advertisements. These weights assigned to the advertisements are also used to select which advertisement is to be displayed on the current user selected web page. Keywords that are closely related to the product being advertised may be given more weight than keywords that are not as closely related to the product being advertised.
• The disclosed method and system allows relevant advertisements to be selected without regard for user specific traits. For example, user specific traits, such as age, sex, and/or income are not required to select relevant advertisements in the disclosed method.
• In one embodiment, the current user selected web page is in a first language and keywords from the articles viewed by the user in the past that are stored in the user profile are in a second language. These keywords in the second language cause advertisements displayed on the current user selected web page to be in a language that is different than the primary language of the article or news story.
• The disclosed method and system tracks the keyword history derived from several pages which a user views and chooses textual ads unique to the user's history, rather than the current page or the current query alone. By focusing on a user's history rather than the current page alone, a higher yielding advertising tool is provided. The disclosed method tracks, stores and retrieves keywords that are used for selecting the advertisements. This results in the advertisements being contextually related to the user's browsing history rather than the context of the current page alone.
• While the present invention has been described with a degree of particularity, it is the intent that the invention include all modifications and alterations falling within the spirit or scope of the appended claims.

Claims (24)

1. A method of selecting textual advertisements for display on a web page based on user history, comprising:

a) identifying a user accessing a web site;

b) identifying keywords in articles displayed on web pages viewed by the user;

c) storing identified keywords from the articles viewed by the user in a user profile;

d) displaying advertisements in connection with a current user selected web page based on keywords from the articles viewed by the user in the past that are stored in the user profile.

2. The method ofclaim 1 further comprising assigning keywords to advertisements and wherein advertisements displayed on the current user selected web page have assigned keywords that are stored in the user profile.

3. The method ofclaim 1 further comprising assigning weights to keywords stored in the user profile that are used to select advertisements for display on the current user selected web page.

4. The method ofclaim 3 wherein said weights are reduced as time elapses.

5. The method ofclaim 2 further comprising assigning weights to keywords assigned to the advertisements that are used to select advertisements for display on the current user selected web page.

6. The method ofclaim 1 wherein advertisements displayed on a current user selected web page are based on keywords from the articles viewed by the user in the past that are stored in the user profile and keywords from an article displayed on the current user selected web page.

7. The method ofclaim 1 wherein advertisements are selected for display without regard for user specific traits.

8. The method ofclaim 7 wherein the user specific traits comprise age, sex, or income.

9. The method ofclaim 1 wherein said current user selected web page is in a first language and said keywords from the articles viewed by the user in the past that are stored in the user profile cause advertisements displayed on the current user selected web page to be in a second language.

10. A system for selecting textual advertisements for display on a web page based on user history comprising:

a) a web server in communication with a user terminal for displaying web pages, the web server being programmed to identify a user accessing the web server and identify keywords in articles displayed on the user terminal; and

b) a user profile database in communication with the web server for storing identified keywords from the articles displayed on the user terminal in a user profile, said web server displays advertisements on a current user selected web page based on keywords from articles viewed by the user in the past that are stored in the user profile.

11. The system ofclaim 10 further comprising an advertisement server for storing keywords assigned to advertisements and wherein advertisements selected for display on the current user selected web page have assigned keywords that match keywords stored in the user profile.

12. The system ofclaim 10 further comprising assigning weights to keywords stored in the user profile that are used to select advertisements for display on the current user selected web page.

13. The system ofclaim 12 wherein said weights are reduced as time elapses.

14. The system ofclaim 11 further comprising assigning weights to keywords assigned to the advertisements that are used to select advertisements for display on the current user selected web page.

15. The system ofclaim 10 wherein advertisements displayed on the current user selected web page are based on keywords from the articles viewed by the user in the past that are stored in the user profile and keywords from an article displayed on the current user selected web page.

16. The system ofclaim 1 wherein advertisements are selected for display without regard for user specific traits.

17. The system ofclaim 16 wherein the user specific traits comprise age, sex, or income.

18. The system ofclaim 1 wherein said current user selected web page is in a first language and said keywords from the articles viewed by the user in the past that are stored in the user profile cause advertisements displayed on the current user selected web page to be in a second language.

19. A computer readable medium having computer executable instructions stored thereon for performing a method of selecting textual advertisements for display on a web page based on user history, the method comprising:

a) identifying a user accessing a web site;

b) identifying keywords in articles displayed on web pages viewed by the user;

c) storing identified keywords from the articles viewed by the user in a user profile;

d) displaying advertisements in connection with a current user selected web page based on keywords from the articles viewed by the user in the past that are stored in the user profile.

20. The computer readable medium ofclaim 19 wherein the method further comprises assigning keywords to advertisements and wherein advertisements displayed on the current user selected web page have assigned keywords that are stored in the user profile.

21. The computer readable medium ofclaim 19 wherein the method further comprises assigning weights to keywords stored in the user profile that are used to select advertisements for display on the current user selected web page.

22. The computer readable medium ofclaim 20 wherein the method further comprises assigning weights to keywords assigned to the advertisements that are used to select advertisements for display on the current user selected web page.

23. The computer readable medium ofclaim 19 wherein advertisements displayed on a current user selected web page are based on keywords from the articles viewed by the user in the past that are stored in the user profile and keywords from an article displayed on the current user selected web page.

24. The computer readable medium ofclaim 19 wherein said current user selected web page is in a first language and said keywords from the articles viewed by the user in the past that are stored in the user profile cause advertisements displayed on the current user selected web page to be in a second language.

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